Re: master df8e705eb2 1/2: Don't refer to Emacs 24.3 or older in FAQ

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Stefan Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2022 20:24:38 +0000
> Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> > What would be the reason to remove references to old Emacs versions
> > from the FAQ?  I'm thinking maybe we should simply exempt the FAQ from
> > this process, which is, of course, perfectly valid for the other
> > documentation.
> 
> The purpose is mostly just to make the text easier to read, and to make
> it not look outdated.  For example, references to this new cool feature
> in Emacs 21 is not likely to be very relevant or helpful in 2022.

Saying that Emacs can do something since version XX.YY can never be
outdated.  And I don't think a reference to Emacs 21 can necessarily
be irrelevant or unhelpful nowadays.  It depends on what it says and
how it says that.

Thus, changing the wording to reflect the time that has passed is
perfectly fine wherever it makes sense.  But removing the text
entirely just because it mentions an old version is IMO wrong for the
FAQ.

> But you may be right in general.  Maybe we should really just delete the
> absolutely antique stuff.

Like what, for example?

> > The FAQ is supposed to be a place where people could look for
> > information like "since when does Emacs do this-and-that?".
> 
> I was thinking also in terms of confused newcomers, who might be
> overwhelmed by secondary details.  (As in: "Wait, which version of Emacs
> am I using?  Is it Emacs 22 or newer?")

The FAQ is not a mandatory reading for newcomers, so I'm not sure this
use case is very important.  And people nowadays know that the version
of the program they run is supposed to be somewhere in Help->About.

So I think we should only make sure the wording doesn't imply that,
say, Emacs 212 happened yesterday, and otherwise keep the references
to old versions in the FAQ.